Dumpster Living?

Austin professor is spending one year living inside a dumpster

Do you think you could live in 33 square feet? What about a 33 square foot dumpster? Well, one Huston-Tillotson University professor is about to do just that. Professor Dumpster (you may know him by his given name Dr. Jeff Wilson), is a Harvard and University of Canterbury-educated environmental science professor who has decided to live in a dumpster for a whole calendar year.

Beginning this fall, Professor Dumpster will take up residence in the customized trash bin in order to spread awareness about sustainability and promote the model of "less is more." After posting on Facebook that he was selling everything he owned for a single dollar (we wish we had seen that status update), Wilson moved into his office at HT to begin the process of lessening his environmental impact and living on a smaller scale.

Beginning this fall, Professor Dumpster will take up residence in the customized trash bin in order to spread awareness about sustainability and promote the model of "less is more."

But this isn't just a story about living in a dumpster. Professor Dumpster is after all a teacher, and this year-long experiment is a chance for his students to design, build and test the bin with the goal of taking it from a garbage can to a home. “The idea here is to ultimately show one can have a pretty good life in a dumpster," Wilson told Fast Company.

The first phase of the project is to outfit the tiny space to have many of the creature comforts of a modern home: shower, kitchen, bed, WiFi and toilet. After that, the goal is to design the space to be as energy efficient as possible in order to reduce its environmental impact (think things like solar panels and energy producing toilets).

For times when the professor just needs to get out of the trash can, students can opt to stay overnight in the dumpster. As one HT student told KVUE, she's already excited to spend a night in the bin. "I think it's pretty intriguing," said Evette Jackson. "It's pretty cool. I want to live in it too."

After his year of living in 6 feet by 6 feet is up, Wilson plans on taking the bin across the country to teach students about the possibility of living outside the box while living, well, inside a box.

You can follow Professor Dumpsters latest adventures on The Dumpster Project blog.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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